The Science Comics line continues with The Periodic Table of Elements: Understanding the Building Blocks of Everything, an introduction to the basics of chemistry by Jon Chad. Mel is anxious about her upcoming chemistry test on the elements, because pressure makes her nervous. She dreams herself into the Land of the Elements, where the elements take on the forms of various blobby creatures. Her help is needed to defeat the Elemancer, who wants to destroy the world, and — what […]

I’ve been impressed by the majority of the History Comics line for their modern, sensible approaches to stories, well-known or not, that younger readers will find interesting. The tale of Rosa Parks, whose refusal to be sent to the back of the bus kicked off the Montgomery, Alabama, bus boycott and eventual desegregation of transit, is fairly well-known. By incorporating the earlier resistance of the Claudette Colvin, who wasn’t as respectable and photogenic a figurehead for a movement, this story […]

It’s a sign, I think, of how accepted comics for young women have become (in contrast to the bad old days of a couple of decades ago, when comics were superhero stories for young men) that we finally have a horse book. The horse book used to be a staple of fiction for girls. But horses are generally acknowledged to be easier to write about than to draw, which may be one reason it’s taken so long to get a […]

Why the People: The Case for Democracy is another in First Second’s line of World Citizen comics, civics-focused non-fiction graphic novels that aim to “equip readers to be active citizens and informed voters.” I’m always a bit hesitant when I pick up one of these titles, as part of me hasn’t shaken the idea that educational works, particularly about politics and citizenship, are going to be too good-for-me to be entertaining. Thankfully, Why the People uses images and metaphors in […]

I’m impressed and thrilled to see this subject included in a line of graphic novels about history for young people. History Comics: The Stonewall Riots: Making a Stand for LGBTQ Rights is written by Archie Bongiovanni (A Quick & Easy Guide to They/Them Pronouns) and illustrated by A. Andrews (A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability). The introduction, by professor Michael Bronski, sums up the importance of works like this one. “We must acknowledge our history, reflect on […]

History Comics: The Roanoke Colony: America’s First Mystery by Chris Schweizer is a fact-filled, fascinating read that uses the mystery of what happened to the Roanoke Colony to explore many political and cultural questions stemming from English settlement attempts in North America. In case you’re not familiar with the story — I’d heard it before, but I grew up in North Carolina, and I still learned more from this book than I ever did there — the Roanoke Colony was […]

There is a ton of material packed into the 128 pages of History Comics: The National Parks: Preserving America’s Wild Places, with new information on almost every page. A Sasquatch introduces us to how national parks can include scenic vistas, natural wildernesses, and historic sites, answering an eagle’s questions about who creates parks and why there are so many different kinds. Along this journey, the reader visits the first parks, Yosemite and Yellowstone, and meets a wide variety of historical […]

What Unites Us: The Graphic Novel is an adaptation by Tim Foley of Dan Rather’s best-selling prose book (written with Elliot Kirschner). Since the appeal of the comic format was recognized by larger, more traditional publishers, resulting in the graphic novel boom, there have been any number of non-fiction comics released. Some of them focus on education to the exclusion of anything else. That makes for dry, unappealing works that don’t take full advantage of the medium, or worse, illustrated […]